


The Long Weekend

by mackenziemchale



Category: The Newsroom (US TV)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Post S3, Post Series, Romance, pregnancy fic, pregnant mac
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-09
Updated: 2021-01-09
Packaged: 2021-03-12 12:00:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,043
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28635120
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mackenziemchale/pseuds/mackenziemchale
Summary: However, like the universe usually did, it had other plans for the weekend that they were supposed to spend relaxing and enjoying one another’s company.
Relationships: Will McAvoy/MacKenzie McHale
Comments: 9
Kudos: 9





	The Long Weekend

**Author's Note:**

> My first fic of the new year! Happy new year guys, it’s already been a bit wild but hopefully overall the year is better than last year.
> 
> Hope you enjoy this fic ❤️

Pregnancy can be a marvelous thing.

Being able to bring life into this world is a gift to most who experience pregnancy, one that they absolutely cherish.

But, pregnancy can also be difficult.

Sure, most would agree that being able to give life to another being is a gift, but they would also say that it’s the only thing that gets them through pregnancy. Because pregnancy isn’t always sunshine and rainbows.

That’s exactly what Mackenzie was feeling this entire weekend.

So far, her pregnancy hasn’t been too bad. She definitely dealt with some mood swings, lashing out at the staff when she’d come down to the bullpen, but she’d apologize soon after. And the staff knew when to avoid her and how to very gently walk across the eggshells so not to crack one and cause her to lash out. Will had been on the receiving end of several of her mood swings and not just the lashing out (which he knew how to deal with too in his own way), but also her random bouts of crying. And he knew how to deal with all sides of her mood swing spectrum. 

Besides the mood swings, Mackenzie dealt with some morning sickness but it had been manageable and she knew what foods and scents to avoid by now. She’d also dealt with the pains and the swelling that were making their presence more known as the weeks went by, but for the most part everything had been manageable. Mac felt lucky that so far it seemed her pregnancy was going pretty well, because for some it could be incredibly difficult.

That all changed on Friday.

The day had started out fine, in fact it was like any other day. Mackenzie was looking forward to the weekend because it had been another one of those busy weeks where she barely saw Will. She’d usually meet him after the show in his office and every time this week they both shared looks of exhaustion. Both having dark circles under their eyes and tired voices. They didn’t really have time for themselves once they got home because they were both so worn down that one of them was out before the other or they’d both be out within minutes of each other. This wasn’t anything new for them, but this week had been especially busy so when Friday finally came, Mac was excited that they’d finally have a few days to themselves.

However, like the universe usually did, it had other plans for the weekend that they were supposed to spend relaxing and enjoying one another’s company.

It didn’t really start until Friday evening, only a little while before the show. Mac had been sitting in the final rundown meeting, as she sometimes did, and was listening as Jim talked about what they needed to cut. She’d been sitting by Will, holding his hand in what felt like a rare moment (really just becoming rare when work got very busy) and he noticed as she started to become pale.

Upon pointing it out to her, Mac just brushed it off and said she was fine but that had been a lie. She’d grown nauseated rather quickly and it was within another few minutes that she had to excuse herself and practically run out of the meeting to reach the closest bathroom.

Will was out of his seat not even a minute later, also excusing himself to follow and make sure she was alright. She had gone from her usual skin tone, which was already fair as is, to completely sheet white in a matter of minutes. 

He waited outside of the bathroom and when she came out, he checked up on her. He checked for a fever but she seemed alright, so he insisted that she go and lay down since she was still a bit white. It wasn’t easy to convince her because even though Mac was starting to feel awful, she wasn’t going to give in that easily. Hell, she’d even insisted on not taking maternity leave when the time came, she wanted to work until she gave birth and Will had lost that battle. However, he won this one and went with her to her office, making sure that she went through with her word and took some time to rest. 

Mac thought it would be over by the end of the night or by morning at the latest, but boy was she wrong.

⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀●●●⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀  ⠀

Saturday started out fairly okay. Mackenzie had gotten up a few times throughout the night to throw up, but by morning she thought maybe it all passed. After all nausea is part of pregnancy, though she hoped it would mostly be gone now that she was 14 weeks along. 

Whenever Mac had woken up actually feeling better than she had the previous night, relief washed over her. Maybe she and Will would be able to spend the weekend doing whatever they desired without having to worry about whether or not she’d have to run off to vomit. 

Their morning was actually fairly nice, they spent it in bed and ignored their phones as they took advantage of what time they’d have before the weekend blinked before their eyes and they were back at work again. 

As the day progressed though, Mac’s well-being only deteriorated back to where it had been the previous day. The nausea came in waves. Some moments it would be weak, but others it would be strong and so strong that it would make her have to get to one of the bathrooms in the apartment quickly. Not that she couldn’t throw up in a bowl in front of Will, but most times the toilet was better.

What came along with the nausea that hadn’t come on Friday was cramping. She’d experienced it before so it was nothing new but that piled on with the nausea, not to mention her emotions becoming more scattered, made her unpleasant to be around.

Saturday was a bit rough to get through, but she’d managed. Will had been a gentleman throughout all of it (as he always was), offering up to do anything she wanted. Mac of course took advantage of that where she could like making him give her a foot massage while they watched a movie. Thankfully she only got up to throw up a few times during the movie which was better than sitting by the toilet the entire time. 

Mac thought maybe Saturday was the worst of it. At some point she’d been carrying around a bowl for a  _ just in case _ moment and she ended up only using it once. That led her to believe that maybe she was finally getting over the hill and coming down and things would be back to normal. 

Sunday, though, brought out the worst of it and she quickly realized that her weekend sickness from the pregnancy wasn’t over just yet. 

Sunday morning had started off horribly and that was the first sign to tell her that the rest of the day wasn’t looking good. In fact, it had started up again before the sun had even risen. Mackenzie ended up spending half of her night throwing up rather than sleeping. 

Will, who she had made sure went back to bed every time he came to check on her, only permanently joined her when she was still by the toilet at 8 am. They’d bickered several times in the night when he insisted on staying with her while she sat by the toilet and waited for the nausea to either pick back up again or settle down enough for her to join him in bed. Each time she insisted that he go back to sleep and of course he pushed back, wanting to be by her side. She wasn’t having any of it though. So, each time he ended up back in bed and sometimes he didn’t hear her as she hurried off to their bathroom. Mac saw that as a good thing, he needed the rest and he didn’t need to spend his night sitting with her while she waited to see if she was going to vomit again. 

It was around 8:30 that Will finally insisted that she lay down and try to rest. Her nausea seemed to have settled down for the time being and though she complained of cramping, he insisted he would bring a warm compress to try and help with that. 

He helped her back to bed and tucked her in, pressing a kiss to her forehead before he left to get the warm compress. Along with that he was going to give a call to her ob/gyn, knowing that she needed some sort of medication. They had Tums and several other medicines for nausea but none of them seemed to work so he knew she needed something stronger. 

When Will returned with the compress, he pressed it against the small bump that was growing more and more recently. She wasn’t anywhere near popping yet, but she was starting to show at least somewhat in her figure that she was pregnant. He loved it, he loved seeing her small bump and kissing it then her every morning before they left for work. 

“Any better?” He asked.

She gave him a tired smile, grateful that he was doing what he could to help her through this, “a little bit. Thank you my love.”

Will then got up again and kissed her cheek this time, telling her he’d be in the living room if she needed anything. He’d decided that it was probably best to leave her be and let her at least try to sleep while he took care of tidying up their apartment. 

After kissing her cheek and whispering that he loved her, Will was out of their room and in the living room, ready to take care of everything while she tried to recover. 

⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀●●●⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀  ⠀

Mac sighs as she rolls over in bed, feeling worse than she had before she fell asleep. Her head was pounding, the cramps had returned, the nausea still hadn’t gone away, she was starving, and it felt as if her entire body was on fire. The only bright side was that she did manage to sleep for two hours uninterrupted which was better than the previous night where she maybe got thirty minutes in every few hours before she was back at the toilet. 

Glancing over at the clock, Mac sees that it was only 10:30 which sent frustration through her because this day already seemed entirely too long.

“Billy!” she calls out and raises her brows when her voice comes out hoarse and somewhat weak. 

And it was a good thing that Will was currently sitting in the living room reading the newspaper because had the tv been on, he probably wouldn’t have heard her. Luckily, he did manage to hear her faint calls for him and he quickly makes his way toward their bedroom. 

Arriving in their bedroom, Will is greeted with the sight of Mac laying on her left side painted with absolute exhaustion. The rings under her eyes were dark, darker than usual, and her eyes seemed heavy like she was moments away from falling back asleep. She didn’t just look tired either, she looked sick too. She’d been pale all weekend and she was currently about as white as she’d been during the rundown meeting Friday.

“What can I do for you honey?” he asks as he approaches the bed and holds back a grimace as he gets down onto his knees so that he’s level with her.

“Your knees…” she scolds weakly.

“I’m fine,” Will insists and reaches for her hand, rubbing his thumb along her smooth skin as he holds it, “what can I do for you?” he repeats.

A tired sigh comes from her, “I don’t know… I feel awful,” she explains.

Will reaches out with his other hand and presses the back of it to her forehead. He figured this was all just pregnancy side effects, but with how pale she was looking, it didn’t hurt to check and see if she was by chance running a fever too. And just as he suspected, her forehead was blazing hot. “Looks like you might be running a fever…” he gently squeezes her hand as he says that, feeling bad that she had to go through all of this. “How’s the nausea?”

“Hasn’t changed much since I went to sleep, but I haven’t thrown up yet,” Mac explains.

He nods, “anything else?”

“Headache… Cramps… and I’m starving,” she whines.

Will nods again, “well, how about we take a shower? That might make you feel a little better. Get you all nice and clean and into some fresh pajamas. What do you think?”

“I really don’t feel like getting up, but it’s a lovely thought.”

“You don’t have to get up,” Will insists. It wasn’t a moment later that he was pulling the covers off of her and swiftly, but carefully, picked her up from the mattress and into his arms. 

“Billy! You’re mad!” She exclaims as he begins to carry her toward their bathroom.

“You married me, so I think that makes you equally mad, dear” he replies as he gently places her down on their bathroom countertop.

Right after setting her down he goes over to the shower and gets it started so that it was ready for them once they were undressed. And he takes care of that too, getting her out of her pajamas first then out of his own. 

Helping her down from the countertop, Will leads her over to the shower and keeps a tight hold on her hand as she steps in. He was right behind her, closing the curtain as he stepped in. 

“You don’t have to do anything,” he explains and grabs hold of the bar of soap that was resting off to the left of him, “I’ll wash you and your hair if that needs to be washed too. You just stand there, I’ll do the rest.”

Mac stares up at him for a moment, wondering briefly what she did to deserve him. “Okay,” she replies softly.

He’s gentle as his hands caress her sore and worn out body, making sure to lather every inch of her in soap. 

Mac tilts her head back and closes her eyes as she lets him pamper her, her lips falling ajar. She was in a temporary heaven, having Will’s hands touch every groove, every nook and cranny always felt good. That was only amplified now given how his touch was helping some of her sore muscles relax. And considering they didn’t get to have the weekend they originally planned, she’d been somewhat starved of his touch. Mac spent so much time in the bathroom and only cuddling here and there when she was sure she wasn’t going to run off again. She craved his touch and now that it was being given to every part of her, she was relishing in it. 

While washing her back, Will leans down slightly and peppers light kisses along her shoulder. He wanted to do whatever he could to relax her and make her forget any of the pain or sickness she was feeling.

Everything was near perfect, Mac felt a near sense of euphoria. Until—

“Ow.” Her voice was soft at first, thinking that the cramp she was experiencing at the moment was small but it quickly escalates and she’s nowhere near prepared for the pain that rips through her stomach.

Will watches as Mac steps further into the shower, now completely under the warm water. “Honey?” she wasn’t saying anything and all he could hear now was her soft cries of pain, which were covering much larger ones that she was trying to hold in.

She can only hear him faintly when he asks if she’s okay, too wrapped up in the pain. Her mind goes blank as she tries to deal with it and in the process, she reaches for the closest thing near her to grip onto which happened to be the shower curtain. 

Will steps forward just as she grabs the curtain and quickly releases her grip, afraid she would pull the curtain down only creating a mess on top of this. He turns her toward him, but she’s bent over slightly and holding one hand on her stomach as she continues to try and stifle her cries.

It felt like an hour, but in reality it was only a couple of minutes until the pain begins to die down. Will was still holding onto her as she brought herself back up. “Are you okay?” he asks. 

Mac sniffles and tries to brush it off even though the pain was still lingering, “yeah…”

“Mackenzie…” his tone was warm and gentle, like a reminder that she was safe (not that she needed it) and it was okay to admit to not being alright.

Before she can get another word out, he brings his arms around her and pulls her as close as he can with her growing baby bump. 

The tears were already in her eyes from dealing with the pain and they keep coming as she lays her head on his shoulder. “It just hurts so much…” A whimper comes out as she says that, because the cramps were still lingering, they just weren’t  _ nearly _ as painful as the surge she just experienced.

“I know… I know, but you’re gonna be okay,” Will whispers while his calloused fingers trace circles along her lower back. He didn’t know, he couldn’t imagine the pain she was going through and just how awful this weekend had been for her, but the best he knew to do was comfort her through it all.

Mackenzie takes a small step back, but stays in his arms. She looks up at him and sniffles, “I’m sorry that we didn’t get a chance to properly enjoy our weekend.”

Will traces a few fingers up her side then brings that same hand to cup her face, “it’s okay. I know we’ve been busier than usual as of late… but we’ve got plenty of weekends ahead of us.”

Nodding, Mac closes her eyes and lets a sigh fall from her lips as he brushes his lips against her forehead then brings her back into a hug again.

⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀●●●⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀  ⠀

Will’s fingers move fast across the keyboard as he types away at an email. It was Monday again which meant they were back to barely seeing each other throughout the day. He secretly hoped she’d come out of her office and sit in on a rundown meeting so they could hold hands for at least a little bit before they had to go their separate ways again.

He even hoped Mac would come into the control room tonight and try to produce him like she’d done several times before. It always led to an argument in his ear, Jim and Mac arguing with each other over who was going to produce Will even though Jim was the producer. And Will learned his lesson about interfering and telling Mac that she was the one who made Jim producer. That had landed him on the couch later that night, which only lasted about twenty or so minutes until she was on the couch with him. Still he’d learned his lesson and never interfered when Mac came into the control room and tried to start producing.

She couldn’t help herself, she put on a pair of headphones and suddenly she was sucked right back into the role of producer. She loved her job as president of the news division, but Will knew there were times where she longed to be a producer again. 

There’s a knock at his door as he’s finishing the email and he looks up to see Sloan popping her head in, “Kenzie said she needs to see you in her office straight away.”

Will glances down at his watch, it was 1:30pm, he figured she’d be busy and he had the afternoon rundown meeting in half an hour. “Now?” he questions with furrowed brows as he looks back at Sloan.

“She told me on my way out to tell you to come up, said it was urgent,” Sloan shrugs.

“Alright,” he replies and gets up from his chair. He was clueless as to what it was she wanted, but he was happy to take this rare opportunity to see her.

Will says hello to Mac’s assistant Millie (formerly Charlie’s assistant) as he walks by and knocks before he enters her office. 

“Sloan said you wanted to see me? That it was urgent?” He asks as he steps in. 

Mac looks up from the article she was reading and pulls off her glasses, “that’s right,” she replies and stands up. Grabbing her purse, she throws it over her shoulder and walks around her desk and over to him, “you and I are going to lunch,” she states.

Will was instantly perplexed, “lunch? Don’t you have a million things to be doing?” He wasn’t at all opposed, he was genuinely excited at the idea of lunch but it wasn’t normal for her to drop everything and take him to lunch. They only ate together if they had the time, which was rare these days.

She shrugs, “I do and so do you, but since our weekend was overtaken by me feeling like utter shit, I’ve decided that we deserve to take a lunch together.”

Mac was feeling immensely better. Her fever broke in the evening after their shower and by the end of the night her nausea was almost completely gone. Getting medicine from her doctor helped tremendously. The most she’d had today was a little nausea but nothing else, and that was normal for most days so far throughout her pregnancy. 

She almost considered taking today off since she was finally feeling better and a day off meant they could spend the time together that they missed throughout the whole weekend. However, since she had several meetings in the morning she had to put aside a day off with Will and just deal with only seeing him when they could fit each other into their busy schedules. 

Somewhere halfway through her first meeting this morning, she decided to say fuck it. She was going to make plans to spend an hour with her husband even if it killed her. Even if she had to stay late tonight. 

“You know I have the afternoon rundown in half an hour,” Will replies. 

Mac shrugs, “they can do it without you and I don’t think you’re about to turn down your pregnant wife after the weekend she just had,” she says, stepping closer to him.

“Guilt tripping me are we?”

“No, but if it’s working then yes,” she smiles.

“Like I was going to turn down the lunch anyway,” he replies and snakes one of his arms around her waist as she stands inches away from him. 

Mac holds her bottom lip between her teeth momentarily then breaks into another smile, “smart man.” She then leans in and gives him a quick peck on the lips, sliding her hand into his.

“I meant to ask you, how are you feeling?” he questions and places his free hand on the bump between them momentarily.

“I feel pretty good actually, except for the fact that our daughter has been sitting directly on my bladder all day it seems. But, that’s nothing new.”

Will nods, “better than nausea and cramps I presume?”

“Much,” Mac nods then begins to step away from the spot they’d been standing in, “come on, let’s go enjoy our lunch before we have to get back to the million things we need to do.”

Will nods, not wanting to waste anymore of the time they had together and follows as she begins to lead the way out of her office. He catches up beside her as they go for the elevators and intertwines their fingers as they walk, glancing over at her with a smile painted on his face. He was happy to be spending an hour with her after the weekend they just had.

**Author's Note:**

> I’ve learned that my brand is hurt/comfort fics & angst fics and honestly I’m okay with that 😂
> 
> Feel free to leave any thoughts you might have or just a kudos if you enjoyed this fic.
> 
> Until next time 💙


End file.
